PartyPoker. WSOP Day 2B starts with a huge field.

Monster Day 2B has them squeezed into every spare bit of space.

A record 2924 players took part in Day 2B and there were players and tables almost in every available bit of floor space. For the first hour of play today they did not let any spectators into the various tournament rooms. Rumour spread that this would continue all day which had many people concerned if they were supporting friends or family but the doors opened about 1pm.

PartyPoker had 35 players taking part today and we were hopeful that some of our guys would continue the good work done already and keep picking up the chips. It was therefore quite a surprise when one of our highest stacked players, Bodo Sbrzesny who started the day on over 100,000 chips, walked back into the suite after only an hour. Bodo managed to get his chips in good holding aces against an aggressive pre-flop raiser only to have his aces cracked when his opponent who had pocket queens spiked an unlikely queen on the river.

No sooner had I heard that cruel story then I saw fellow GrassRoots player, Ian Frazer marching down the corridor talking into his phone. Ian had obviously busted as well. Last I heard he went round to the Bellagio to get over his disappointment with some high stakes cash game action.

In the first level today we had a steady stream of guys who’s tournament was over. The good thing about the Mike Sexton Suite today was that Mike was there most of the day even though was not playing so he could offer some commiseration and I could offer a cold beer.

By the time we had played 2 levels and the players had their dinner break, over 900 players who sat down this morning were now out of the tournament. This made it easier for railbirds like me to move around as tables were collapsed and removed creating more space.

Over at the ESPN feature table, Phil Hellmuth was mixing it up with PartPoker player Daniel Vorbeck. Daniel told me that Phil was playing very well and picking up a lot of pots by scaring players off them. That sounds like Mr. Hellmuth.

As the afternoon wore on it was clear that we may not end the day with very many PartyPoker players and that proved to be true. By the time they bagged up the chips in the evening we had Ptter Hammer from Norway as a Day 2b chip leader with 229200 chips. There was also a new overall chip leader in Amir lehavot who was on a staggering 610,000 chips which is more than 175,000 more than his nearest rival.

PartyPoker players chip counts – end of Day 2B
Petter Hammer 229,200
Gustav Ekerot 147,400
Glenn Slater 161,900
Rasmus Hansen 145,800
Philip Boer 125,900
Todd Sisley 104400
Randy Armitage 64300
Jonas Gutteck 62800
Ludvik Sindiri Ludviksson 60400
Salvador Villaluz 37800
Fabian Quoss 28700
Jonathan Driscol out
Philip Green out
Stefan Kahlert out
Fredrick Andren out
Claus Anderson out
Anthony Lansdell out
Sebastian Panny out
Jack Powell out
Ricky Tang out
Ricardo Sibelo out
Marcos Palermo out
Ian Frazer out
Morten Christiansen out
Marlis Sawicki out
Joakim Noren Olsson out
Aaron Armstrong out
Bodo Sbrzesny out
Anthony Keogh out
Jonathan Karamalikis out
Jens Klaning out
francisco A out
Florian Langmann out
Jeppe Neilsen out
Paul Foltyn out

Tomorrow is a day off for players and staff alike but on Day 3 (Friday) we will have 26 PartyPoker players in the approx 2100 strong field all hoping to make it into day 4 when the bubble is expected and players will make the money. I’ll be back on Friday.
Jeremy Coleman